Monday, April 14, 2014

On GDAMS, do you know where your tax dollars (or pounds or yen, etc.) are?

Top ten reasons that the planet and its creatures would be better off without military spending:

#10 Pollution is causing climate havoc, and the Pentagon -- the biggest military spender in history, spending more than the next several nations combined -- has the biggest carbon footprint of any organization on Earth.

#9 Military spending causes great injury to those on the receiving end of the weapons and occupations, often for several generations beyond the expenditures. Afghans are still struggling with the weapons left behind by Russia, and now must cope with the weapons being left behind by NATO and the U.S.

#7 Military spending is a lousy job generator. An investment of $1 billion into any other sector of the economy generates far more jobs than the same investment in building weapons of mass destruction.

#6 Military spending causes great moral harm to those responsible. Some never recover; suicide is now the leading cause of death among active duty military personnel.

#4 Military spending in the form of propaganda for more military spending is especially harmful, and much of it is aimed at young people.

#3 A good chunk of the Pentagon's military spending goes to NSA mass surveillance of everyone on the planet's private correspondence and calls.

#2 Military spending creates enemies faster than it removes them. (Some would say this is part of its genius, as a self-perpetuating wealth producing mechanism for "defense" contractors, who are already so wealthy they constitute the 0.01% income bracket.) Check out this video of people in Gaza and their view of U.S. military "aid" to Israel in the form of $3.1 billion per year to buy weapons.

#1 Military spending has brought down many an empire. Guess which one is next?